Treating with Vitamin C

[Pufferpunk]

Also, whoever is orderig their VC from I-Herb, if you use my email as a referal, I get like 2% off every order: luluwonderdog(at) yahoo(dot)com.

 

[spider86]

Ive been dosing C from I-herb for a few months. I have been getting a cloudy tank along with some percipition. I checked my ALK and it rose to 13.8. CA is at 400 and PH is 8.3. Should I lower the dosing? I have been doing a tespoon in the am and 1 in pm.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12293619#post12293619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
My pH is normal (8.3) & alk is actually a big high (I need to adjust dosage). I am using pure, buffered VC.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I am at a total loss as to why my alk is so high. I have stopped dosing alk for a week now & it's 10 (was 13 a week ago). I have never experienced any cloudiness or precipitation. I'm dosing at around 23ppm.

 

[BlackPirhana]

Anybody dosing a 10 gallon tank? I just wanna know what results you have from it...

 

[Pufferpunk]

I am dosing 1/4 tsp/day in a 15g Mantis shrimp tank. Not really for the corals (mostly junk in there) but because before dosing, my nitrate would go over 100 & I'd have to do a 90% WC every week. It now never goes over 10 & the skimmer is working much better too.

 

[Pufferpunk]

BTW, my pH is remaining steady, at ~8.2, so I am really wondering where the higher alk came from.

 

[baloutang]

Anyone had issue with cyno since dosing and stopping with Vit C?
I was dosing and am on an off cycle, but now I'm getting red slime algae (mostly confined in my water column, but have found it in areas near corals). Flow is really good in my tank (running a vortech, along with 4 maxi jet 1200 on wavemaker).
The only thing that changed drastically in the tank was my snails spawned 4 days ago (next morning found the water cloudy and trocus snails emitting white cloud from their body). I did a 25% water change, changed out carbon, filter sock and cleaned skimmer cup.
What else can be done? Should I start up Vit C?

 

[Sold4JC]

Pufferpunk, my alk is a little high also. I was correcting PH with kalk but stopped. I did add a small air pump and air stone to the sump which did seem to help with PH swings. I will hook my AC Jr up to the computer tonight and see what my PH highs and lows are. I am currently adding 1 1/2 tsp of VC to a 80 gallon tank. Skimmer production is great and my new MSX 200 skimmer will be here on Friday. I may be seeing slight improvement in zoas but they did get worst then the pictures I posted last week. I did lose an SPS frag. I will try and take pics soon.

 

[Pufferpunk]

pH seems to be fine here & I was able to open my windows today.

 

[SeanT]

I got my powder form today...took over a week to get it..
My eyes dont want to read the whole thread again.
Should I just dose it as if it were a pill?

By that I mean just pour the appropriate amount of mg in my tank in powder form all at once?

Also, dpes the powder form cause the skimmer to go nuts like the pills?

Just want to be prepared.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Sold4JC]

I just pour the powder in the sump every morning and evening. I don't think your skimmer will go crazy because there are no binders or fillers in the powder VC. You should also have better stability with your PH because the powder VC is buffered. Dose on bro!

 

[Pufferpunk]

1/4tsp is 1112mg, so go by that. I start with 1/4--it's just easier. My skimmer function is still "improved" with the crystal form.

 

[SeanT]

.dbl.

 

[SeanT]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12339920#post12339920 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pufferpunk
1/4tsp is 1112mg, so go by that. I start with 1/4--it's just easier. My skimmer function is still "improved" with the crystal form.

:lol:

 

[Pufferpunk]

Well the thing is, I was just going to mesh mod my largest skimmer pump, when I started dosing & the skimmer on my mantis tank barely made any bubbles at all. Both have improved to the point that no mod is necessary at all & I'm quite pleased with he bubble production in all 3 of my skimmers now.

 

[b16drag]

Have you guys try dissolving the Vit C into RO/DI water and then just add a certain amount to the tank--a little bit at a time? Or would you think that it becomes supersaturated and start crystallizing? Or possible become denatured or less active?

 

[Pufferpunk]

IMO, I do not believe dripping VC will bring it up to the levels necessary for treatment. If you are just using it for improvement all around of your corals, then it might work.

 

[b16drag]

I didn't mean to use it as a drip but rather as a more exact way of measuring it. For example if you were able to dissolve 5 tsp with RO/DI water and make a total volume of 50 ml, you know that 5ml would equal 1/2 tsp.

Just something more precise than going that looks like half a teaspoon, and "dunk"

Just wondering if anyone has tried this.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Those crystals dissolve into nothing. If you pull the tsp across the opening of the bottle, it is exactly a tsp. Just like when using your test kits (& those have to be really precise). I don't think you really need to be that precise with this. Just for the heck of it, I decided to start dosing my mantis shrimp tank, because of poor skimmer production & high nitrate (nothing fancy to speak of in there). Just to make is easy, I started with 1/4tsp (1112mg). It's a 15g tank. No negative effects, the skimmer is working great & the nitrate is <10 (was >100 every week, before WC).

 

[SeanT]

2 Hours.

2 Hours.

I have been timing how long I need to keep my skimmer off after dosing to prevent it from overflowing.

With the powdered form of Vitamin C from iHerb it takes 2 hours, maybe a little less.
Tomorrow I will leave it off for 1 hour to see if that will do it.

About time to hook up a dual pole timer to my skimmers pump.
Dose, turn timer knob (shuts skimmer off for set amount of time) feed while I am at it and the skimmer auto-restarts.

With the pills I was using it would freak out for 6 hours.
Less dissolving time is probably the case, so far so good.